April 15, 2013
Amber Philman
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-861-0370
amber.n.philman@nasa.gov
Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
jbuck@nasa.gov
RELEASE: 13-110
NASA MARKS THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF OBAMA SUPPORT OF SPACE AT KENNEDY
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA marked the third anniversary Monday of
President Obama's speech at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in
Florida, in which he laid out a plan to ensure the United States will
remain the world's leader in space exploration.
Obama's plan includes reaching new destinations, such as an asteroid
by 2025 and Mars in the 2030s, using NASA's Space Launch System (SLS)
rocket and the Orion spacecraft. During an anniversary event at
Kennedy's Operations and Checkout Building, where Orion spacecraft is
being processed for a 2014 flight test, Kennedy Space Center Director
Robert Cabana and human spaceflight officials showcased Orion's crew
module.
"Three years ago today, the president was here in an empty high bay
challenging us to go to an asteroid by 2025," said Cabana. "Today,
this is a world-class production facility with a flight article, a
flight vehicle, Orion, getting ready to fly next year. We've made
tremendous progress in our transition to the future. And now with the
announcement from the budget rollout last week about our plans to
retrieve an asteroid and send a crew to it, we're moving forward to
meet the president's challenge."
Following the president's 2010 visit to Kennedy, Congress passed the
bipartisan NASA Authorization Act of 2010. The agency continues to
implement the ambitious national space exploration plan outlined in
the act. It will enable scientific discovery and technological
developments for years to come and make critical advances in
aerospace and aeronautics to benefit the American people.
"I am very proud of the progress the NASA team has made over the past
three years to meet the president's challenge, aligning our
capabilities in human spaceflight, technology and science to capture
an asteroid, relocate it and send astronauts to explore it," said
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in a statement. "The president's
budget for next year advances a strategic plan for the future that
builds on U.S. pre-eminence in science and technology, improves life
on Earth and protects our home planet, while creating well-paying
jobs and strengthening the American economy."
The 2014 flight test will be the first launch of Orion. NASA also is
progressing toward a launch of Orion on top of the SLS rocket during
a 2017 flight test.
SLS is essential to America's future in human spaceflight and
scientific exploration of deep space. It will take humans beyond
Earth orbit to an asteroid and Mars. Ground systems development and
operations to support launches of SLS and Orion from Kennedy also are
well into development. The SLS Program is on track to complete the
rocket's preliminary design review this summer. The tools needed to
build SLS's massive structure and fuel tanks are being installed at
NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The process will
include one of the largest welding tools ever built.
In addition, the agency is working with the private sector to develop
a strong commercial capability to deliver cargo and crew to low-Earth
orbit. The Boeing Co. of Houston plans to use a former space shuttle
hangar at Kennedy to process its CST-100 vehicle, one of several
spacecraft in development for commercial providers to take astronauts
to low-Earth orbit from American soil in the next four years.
The agency continues to develop technologies for traveling farther
into space, such as solar electric propulsion, which will power a
mission to capture an asteroid and return it to an orbit nearer to
Earth. Then astronauts will launch from Kennedy aboard an SLS rocket
and fly to the asteroid to study it in an Orion spacecraft by as
early as 2021.
For more information about NASA's ongoing work in human spaceflight,
visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/orion
http://www.nasa.gov/sls
http://go.nasa.gov/groundsystems
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial
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